The invention relates to a holder that performs the dual functions of storing and recharging a battery of a radio telephone. In particular the holder may store a radio telephone handset or portable telephone and recharge the battery while in situ on the phone.
For convenience, holders for radio telephones are often designed to provide a charging current to recharge a battery while stored.
Some prior art holders of this type have included the additional feature that electrical contact between the current source and battery pack is achieved simply by placing the entire radio telephone in the cradle member. The weight of the radio telephone has generally been sufficient to ensure good contact is made between a sprung connector in the bottom of the cradle member and a fixed contact on the bottom of the radio telephone. The weight of a radio telephone is, however, a design consideration and as radio telephones have become lighter the contact achieved under gravity has become less reliable.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a holder for charging a radio telephone battery disposed within a housing comprising a cradle member, means for supplying charging current for charging the battery, an electrical contact disposed to allow electrical contact between the battery and the means for supplying charging current on positioning the housing in the cradle member, and means for releasably locking the housing relative to the cradle member in such a position that electrical contact between the battery and the means for supplying charging current is maintained.
The invention provides the advantage that a reliable electrical contact is maintained between the battery and the means for supplying charging current. This is particularly, although not exclusively, useful when the radio telephone is relatively light.
The holder is preferably adapted to store a handset or portable phone, the battery taking the form of battery pack that is rechargeable in situ. The holder may, however, be adapted to store a battery pack on its own. The term housing refers accordingly to the entire telephone or the battery housing alone.
The invention is useful for hand portable phones stored in cradles on desks or walls and for in-car mobile phone applications. The means for releasably locking, which may be a latch, keeps the phone or handset captive within the cradle member preventing it from being knocked from its position in the cradle member.
The means for releasably locking may comprise a latching member disposed on the cradle for engagement with a complementary latching member located in relation to the battery. The latching members are preferably engaged and disengaged by successive depressions of the housing relative to the cradle member. This has the advantage that no operation other than placing the phone in the holder need be performed to lock it in position, and the further advantage that the same operation frees the phone for withdrawal. This is of particular importance for in-car applications where a minimal degree of visual input for operation is desirable for safety.
The latching member disposed on the cradle may comprise a carriage, movable between a first position and second position under the action of a resilient member. The complementary latching member may be a slot and the carriage may comprise an arm carrying a catch movable between positions in which the latch is engaged with and disengaged from the slot. The arm is preferably resilient and has a camming surface that abuts a lip on the cradle member as the carriage moves between the first and second positions causing the arm to divert from its unbiased position to move the latch between engaged and disengaged positions.
The means for releasably locking may alternatively comprise cooperating elements disposed one on each of the handset or phone and cradle member whereby engagement is effected by abutment of the cooperating elements, preferably under a spring bias. The cooperating elements may be a fixed protrusion disposed on the cradle member and a slot disposed on the phone or handset or vice versa.
This arrangement similarly has the advantage that the means for releasably locking can be engaged as the handset is placed in the cradle member. Again by depressing the handset or phone against the spring bias the phone or battery can be disengaged from the cradle allowing the same movement to be employed for both engagement and disengagement of the means for releasably locking.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus comprising a radio telephone battery disposed within a housing, a cradle member for receiving the housing, means for supplying charging current for charging the battery, an electrical contact disposed to allow electrical contact between the battery and the means for supplying charging current on positioning the housing within the cradle member, and means for releasably locking the housing relative to the cradle member in such a position that electrical contact is maintained between the battery and the means for supplying charging current.